Automatic circuit making and breaking mechanism for gas-lighting



(No Model.) I

W. W. ESTABROOK.

AUTOMATIC CIRCUIT MAKING AND BREAKING MECHANISM FOR GAS LIGHTING.

No. 414,763. Patented Nov. 12, 1889 Fig '2.

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U ITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLARD IV. ,ISTA BROOK, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

AUTOMATIC CIRCUIT MAKING AND BREAKING MECHANlSM FOR GAS-LIGHTING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 414,763, label November 12, 1889.

Application filed February 27, 1889. Serial No. 301,318. (No model.)

lowing is aspecification.

In my present invention I employ the automatic circuit maker and breaker which will be found more fully described in Letters Patent of the United States No. 389,799, dated September 18, 1888, granted to me, reference to which may be had, and which it will therefore be unnecessary for me to describe here with particularity. Said automatic circuit.

maker and breaker described in the patent referred to is controlled by clock mechanism, so that at a given time the moving member of the contact-making device is released, allowing contact to be made with a number of stationary contacts, each in electrical connection with an automatic electric gas-burner, and causing the same to be lighted, while at another given time the moving contact is again released, allowing it to make contact with another series of stationary contactpieces, whereby the gas is extinguished. Such a device is necessarily limited to a comparatively small number of contacts, and is consequently adapted to light and extinguish only a comparatively small number of lights.

In my present invention I have extended the scopeof my apparatus, and by using it in connection with additional apparatus I am enabled to light and extinguish at any given times a very large number of lights-as, for example, the street-1i ghts of a city-the entire system of lighting and extinguishing being controlled from one clock at a central station.

The chief object of my invention is the construction and application of such an apparatus to the l ghting and extinguishing of the street-lights in a city or town; and it consists in a central automatically-operating circuit maker and breaker, by the operation of which electrical connection is established with a number of secondary automaticallyoperating circuit makers and breakers, each located in a given district of the city and connected with the lights in said district, and by the operation of which said lights are In the accompanying drawings I have shown v my invention as embodied in the best form now known to me, and in said drawings, Fig- -ure 1. is a plan view of the primary circuit maker and breaker, which is controlled by the clock mechanism. Fig. 2 is a plan view of one of the secondary or distriet'circuit makers and breakers, the operation of which is controlled by the primary circuit maker and breaker. Fig. 3 is a view from above and partially in section of the device shown in Fig. 2, and with some parts removed to show more clearly the operation of the device.

I will describe my invention, using like letters of reference to indicate like parts throughout the drawings.

A represents the clock mechanism, which, by means of sliding bolts a, controls the revolving plate or wheel B, upon which the moving contact I) is mounted.

c are a series of stationary contacts, each of which is in electrical connection with a secondary circuit maker and breaker, such is shown in Fig. The plate or wheel which carries the moving contact I) is mounted on an arbor, and is provided with a clock-spring mechanism or similar devicesuch, for example, as that shown in Fig. 3by means of which the plate B may be revolved.

I) represents the wire which makes electrical connection between this primary circuit maker and breaker and a secondary circuit maker and breaker, such as is shown in Fig. 2. This device consists of a circular plate or wheel E, mounted upon an arbor (Z, which is j ournaled in a suitable frame, (shown at c, Fig. 3,) and which also serves to support the clock-spring and gears by which the arbor d and its plate E are revolved. This spring mechanism is substantially the same as is employed in clocks and similar instruments. The frame e, which serves to support the arbor d and its operating mechanism, is secured firmly to a base G, upon which the whole de- ICC vice is mounted, and which is preferably of wood. On the plate E, which may be cut away, as shown, for lightness, so that it becomes merely a wheel or open disk, is mounted the moving member of the contact-making device shown at f. This member consists of a frame bent at either end so as to project at right angles to the face of the plate E, and carrying in slots therein one or more contactmakers. These contact-makers consist each of a rod encircled by a spiral spring and carrying at its outer end a roll, the roll being for the purpose of reducing the friction between the moving contact and the stationary contact as the plate E revolves. The spiral springs operate to project the rods and rolls outwardly toward the stationary contacts, so that they will bear thereon with some pressure, and thus insure effective contact. The contacts f are duplicatedthat is, one, two, or three of them are employed merely for greater certainty of making the contact. In the drawings three are shown, and I prefer to employ this number. In proximity to the plate E are set the curved pieces g 71, in which the stationarycontacts j are mounted. There are two sets of these stationary contacts of equal number-those on one side of the plate E for lighting the gas and those on the other for extinguishing it. In case, however, an automatic burner be used requiring only one wire-that is, one in which alternate contacts light and alternate contacts extinguishit will be clear that only one series of stationary contact-pieces will be requisite.

Each gas-burner is in electrical connection with a lighting and extinguishing contactpiece, and it will be clear that at each halfrevolution of the plate E the 'moving'contact fwill touch the stationary contacts at one side of the plate, and if these cont-acts are connected with the lighting-wires will light the gas, while atthe next half-revolution it will touch the contacts of the extinguishingwires and will extinguish the gas. The mechanism for releasing and stopping the plate E, so as to permit contact to be made first with the lighting-wires and then with the extinguishing-wires, is as follows: At opposite points on the periphery of the plate E projections 7a are secured, .(see Fig. 2,) and at one .side of the plate E is placed a lever I, pivoted at its upper end at m to a pin projecting upwardly from the base G. The lower end of the lever Z is bent inwardly toward the plate E, so as to project into the path of the projection 7.: when the plate E revolves, and thus stop the revolution of the plate. The bent end of the lever Z is provided with a frictionroll, so that it may be more easily withdrawn from the projection 70 when it is desired to release the plate E. The lever Z is held normally against the periphery of the plate E and in the path of the projections 7o by the spiral spring a, which is secured at one end to the lever and at the other to a post or pin set in the base G. (See Figs. 2 and On the lever 7 is secured the armature r of an electro-magnet II, which is mounted in proximity thereto in any convenient manner on the base G. The current passing through the magnet causes it to attract the armature and to withdraw the lower end of the lever Z from the projection 7r, thus releasing the plate E and allowing it to revolve. As the magnet is but momentarily energized, the lover I is immediately drawn back by the spring n against the periphery of the plate E, and the plate is accordingly stopped in its revolution when the projection 7; comes in contact with the lever Z. In place of the lever l a sliding rod or bolt might be employed. In this way by passing a ct rrent through the magnet ll at a given time the plate E is released and allowed to make a half-revolution, lighting or extinguishing the lights, and it will be clear that the magnet II will be energized whenever connection is made with it by the moving contact of the primary machine (shown in Fig. 1) touching the stationary contact of that machine with which the magnet l l is electrically connected. It, therefore, the secondary machine or circuit-maker is arranged to light and extinguish fifty lights, and one hundred of these secondary machines are provided, each in electrical connection with a stationary contact in the primary machine, (said machine having a hundred stationary contacts,) it will be clear that five thousand lights may be lighted and extinguished from one clock mechanism controlling theprimary machine, and as the machines may be increased in size, so as to accommodate easily a much larger number of contacts, it will be seen that a much larger number of lights may be controlled, if desired.

By inserting another machine between the primary and the secondary and supplying this intermediate machine with one hundred contacts a single contact of the primary may be made to control five thousand lights. Thus .a practically-indefinite number of lights may be controlled. The moving members or contacts on the plates B and E are so arranged that when the plates are at rest the contacts will be opposite spaces, as J, Fig. 2, between the strips which support the stationary mem bers. This provision allows the springs of the moving contacts to be expanded when the device is not in operation.

The machines may be connected with the batteries in any convenient manner, the precise method of connecting them beingimmaterial.

In the drawings the battery shown at K, Fig. 1, supplies a current to the primary machine, the wire (t passing from the battery to a metallic connection I) in contact with the plate B. Thence the current passes, when contact is made, through the wire D to the binding-post c, thence through the magnet II to the binding-post d, and thence to the ground. The battery shown at L supplies the lighting and extinguishing circuits from ITO the secondary machine, (shown in Fig. 2,) the wire f passing therefrom through a sparkcoil to the binding-post g, which is. in electrical connection wit-h the plate E. Thence, when contact is made, it passes by the lighting and extinguishing wires connected with the stationary contacts j to the burners. To prevent the current from being short-circuited from the revolving plates B and E, these plates are insulated in any convenient manner, as by constructing the stops or projections thereon, or the parts with which the stops or projections come in contact, of rubber or other non-conducting substance.

If it is desired to make the circuit through a part only of the stationary contacts j at a time, this may be accomplished, as will be obvious, by the employment of another stop 7t, located at the properpoint on the periphery of the disk E.

hat I claim is- 1. An automatic circuit making and breaking mechanism consisting of the combination, with a primary machine comprising a series of stationary cont-acts, a movable contact arranged to pass over said stationary contacts, means for driving said moving contact, and a clock mechanism for controlling the same, of one or more secondary machines, each comprising an .electro-magnet electrically connected with a stationary contact of the primary machine, a series of stationary contacts to be electrically connected with gas-burners or devices to be operated upon, a moving contact device having a stop or stops, means for driving said moving contact device, and a detent or lever controlled by said electro-magnet and arranged to be engaged with or disengaged from said stop or stops, whereby when the moving contact of the primary machine is set in motion the circuits between the stationary contacts thereof and the electro-magnets of the secondary machines will be closed, thus setting the moving contacts of the said secondary machine into motion and closing the circuits between the stationary contacts of said secondary machines and the gas-burners or other devices to be operated on, substantially as set forth.

2. An automatic circuit making and breaking mechanism consisting of the combination, with a primary machine comprising a series of stationary contacts 0, arranged in an are or circle, a rotary wheel or plate B, carrying the moving contact b, means for rotating said wheel or plate, a detent mechanism, as sliding bars a, for controlling the movements of said wheel or plate, and a clock mechanism for operating said detent mechanism, of one or more secondary machines, each comprising an electro-magnet electrically connected with a stationary contact of the primary machine, a series of stationary contacts arranged in an are or circle, a wheel or plate E, provided with one or more stops, as la, a moving contact carried by said wheel or plate, means for rotating said wheel, and an armature-lever, as 1, controlled by said electro-magnet, substantially as set forth.

3. In an automatic circuit making and breaking mechanism, the combination, with a primary machine comprising one or more stationary contacts, a moving contact, and

' clock mechanism for controlling the latter, of

a secondary machine comprising the rotary plate or wheel E, having one or more stops 7;, means for rotating said wheel or plate, a moving contact carried by said Wheel or plate, one or more stationary cont-acts to be engagedby said moving contact, a detent armature-lever for controlling the movements of said wheel or plate, and an electro-magnet electrically connected with a stationary contact of said primary machine, substantially as set forth.

WILLARD V. ESTABROOK. 'itnesses:

WM. A. MACLEOD, ROBERT WALLACE. 

